The present invention relates to the provision of an efficient component mounting method for deciding the types of a variety of supplied components such as those purchased from two different corporations, which can be used in the objective mounting position for the improvement of mounting quality in an electronic component mounting apparatus for mounting electronic components of set, tray, stick, bulk and other types on a printed board and the apparatus of the method.
Conventionally, a component supplying method concerning component mounting and an apparatus for performing the method includes those in the documents of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 4-155998, and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 4-164398. In these publications, there is disclosed a component supplying method concerning component mounting and an apparatus for the method wherein a plurality of parts cassettes for storing components to be mounted on printed boards are removably attached to the component mounting apparatus. Therefore, the parts cassettes can reciprocally move along the longitudinal direction of the apparatus and position one of the parts cassettes which stores required components at a component supply position of the apparatus. After the parts cassette which stores required components is positioned at a component supply position, a component mounting head (suction head) of the apparatus moves to the component supply section and sucks one of the components in the positioned parts cassette, and then moves to a board onto which the sucked component is mounted while passing over a detection section. When the sucked component is passed over the detection section, the configuration of the component is detected by a detector to determine whether or not the sucked component is a required one. If not, the sucked component is not mounted on the board and is discharged to a discharge section. If yes, the sucked component is mounted on the board.
The mounting apparatus is shown in FIG. 2, and an example of its component supply section is shown in FIG. 8. Component supply units (parts cassettes) 10 are mounted in a number of component supply positions (Z1, Z2, . . . , Zn, . . . ) at a component supply section 5. A detection section 9 determines the type of the component, and the component is supplied to a component mounting section 6 and mounted onto a printed board on a mounting table 2.
In this electronic component mounting apparatus, the component type to be set in the proper supply position of the component supply section is not limited to one type, and sometimes the component is a similar component of another manufacturer or a less expensive component having different characteristics such as different ranks of components having different tolerances. If the component is identical, sometimes the component type name on the manufacturer side differs from the component type name given on the purchaser side for individual control purpose. Therefore, it is difficult to specify the component to be actually set in an arbitrary component supply position by a sole component type name due to the practice of purchasing components from two or three component manufacturers (referred to as a two-route purchase hereinafter) for the purpose of stably obtaining and preparing the components. Accordingly, there exists a plurality of components which can be used and mounted (referred to as substitute components) other than the basic component to be properly used (referred to as a master component hereinafter). For example, each of the master components is a component which is normally used or has best quality. Therefore, when laying in those components, it is required to give them a sole component type name as a master component type name or representative component type name with a certain substitute code, give the components a label of the name or reissue the label and attach the same, and this disadvantageously increases the cost.
Specifically, it is supposed that the conventional apparatus performs component mounting operation by using NC program having data wherein the numbers of the component arrangement positions Z0, Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4, . . . Zn correspond to only master components of component type names P0, P1m, P2m, P3m, P4m, . . . Pnm but do not correspond to any substitute component. In such an apparatus, when one of the master components P1m is consumed, the mounting operation of the apparatus is stopped. Then, an operator inputs information that the consumed master component can be replaced with a substitute component P1s, and thereafter the apparatus restarts under the NC program including the above replacement information. But this means declining the productivity.
Otherwise, at the production site, a determination accuracy of the component type to be mounted is assured by forming a comparison list or the like of the master component to be set in the proper supply position with the substitute components, comparing each component with the comparison list or taking a similar measure, and verifying the component by two operators so as not to select the wrong component to be mounted or taking a similar measure when setting the component. However, due to a mistake of the operators, a defective product caused by erroneous setting and erroneous mounting of components is often produced. In addition, an error disadvantageously occurs at the time of recognizing and correcting the position of the component held by a component mounting head due to a difference in the outer configuration, a difference in dimensions and thickness of the connection terminal section, and a difference in color between the substitute component and the master component. Accordingly, it is necessary to replace the component recognition data by designating the regular component recognition data set in the component supply section for the purpose of executing the correct operation, and to stop the mounting apparatus once for manually carrying out the determination and designation, and this causes a reduction in the productivity as a stop loss of the equipment.
In order to cope with the actual situation at the production site, an object of the present invention is to provide a component supplying method for implementing a highly reliable component mounting check including a plurality of substitute components at the component supply section even when the substitute component is used for mounting, and its component arrangement data forming method. The object of the present invention is to provide a highly reliable mounting method by automatically selecting the component recognition data necessary for the substitute component and effectively executing the component recognition and correction at the component mounting section.
In order to solve this problem, the component supplying method, its data forming method and component mounting apparatus of the present invention determines through comparing whether a component is the regular component based on component arrangement data having a plurality of (substitute) component type names of the components which can be mounted in the proper supply position of the component supply section.
In accomplishing these and other aspects, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component supplying method for a component supply section which supplies a component to a component mounting section for mounting the component on a printed board. A component type set in the component supply position is detected by using component arrangement data having a plurality of substitute component type names of components which can be mounted in a proper supply position, and using a detection section. It is then determined whether the component set in the component supply position is a regular one by comparing it with a plurality of mountable component names of the component arrangement data.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component arrangement data forming method for forming component arrangement data by providing a component supply section having a plurality of substitute component type names of components which can be mounted in a proper supply position.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component arrangement data forming method for a component supply section for automatically forming component arrangement data having a plurality of substitute component type names of components which can be mounted in a proper supply position through a detecting process by using a detection section. The detecting section detects type of component set in a supply position, and an editing and registering process writes the detected component type into component arrangement data.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a component mounting apparatus includes a mounting control means for implementing any one of the component supplying method or the data forming methods of the first to third aspects.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method as in any one of the first to third aspects. In particular, a replaced position of a replacing component supply unit of the component supply section is stored, and the data of the component supply unit at the replaced position is checked.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method as in any one of the first to third aspects. A replaced position of a replacing component supply unit of the component supply section is stored, and the data of the component supply unit at the replaced position and a component supply unit adjacent to the replaced position is checked.
According to the present invention, a highly reliable effective component supplying method (for preventing erroneous setting) for a variety of substitute components of the two-route purchase or the like is obtained.